Roy Hodgson thinks Luis Suarez has a lot to prove before he can be considered a truly world class player.

Uruguay and Liverpool striker Suarez is expected to recover from a knee injury in time to face England in Thursday's crunch match in Sao Paulo.

He has been castigated for racist comments and biting other players in the past, but this year Suarez has enjoyed a season free of controversy and full of goals.

Suarez scored 27 times this year to bring Liverpool within a whisker of ending their 24-year wait for the league title.

There was many a stunning effort in that haul, but for Hodgson, a player has only proven himself when he lights up a World Cup.

When asked whether Suarez belonged in the same "world-class" bracket as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the England manager said: "I think he will only be at that level when he shows it on this particular stage. He has got the potential. He is he a wonderful footballer.

"But if you are really going to put him up there with (Diego) Maradona, Pele, (Franz) Beckenbauer and (Johan) Cruyff, and (Andrea) Pirlo, this is the stage you have got to do it on really."

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"But, yes, we want Wayne in the box and there's no question we will get him in the box."

Rooney was not the only profligate party in the England team. England had Italy on the ropes in the opening 15 minutes, but they could not beat stand-in goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu until just before half-time.

Hodgson wants his attackers to be more clinical against a Uruguayan defesne which will be more brittle than the one they faced on Saturday.

"We have got to ally the pace with scoring goals," Hodgson said. "We have got to be a bit more ruthless."

Hodgson is far from downbeat about England's chances of progression, though, and thinks his team has enough pace and venom to see off Uruguay and Costa Rica.

"We won't panic," Hodgson said. "It was as positive performance as I have seen from us. And it gives me great hope going forward, not just the next two games, but further than that because we have players here who will develop into very strong players."

Hodgson is hopeful that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will take some part in training next week after he continued to make good progress in his recover from a knee injury.

"He might be fit for Uruguay. He will be very close," the England boss said.